i don't want to be the pessimist but i think a lot of you guys have unrealistic opinions about giovinco. I'm not questioning his skill or his ability, but remember that he's young, he's unproven (for big squads), he has a lot of pressure on him and he lacks physical strength.
everyone who plays football knows that the more close you get to the opponents goal the more strong the tackles and roughness is from the opposing defenders/players ... in a game with an "english minded" referee perhaps giovinco would get beat up by defenders before having the chance to control the ball ... perhaps he would be pushed away all the way ...
so ranieri could think that it is wiser to let giovinco play a more central role further away from the penalty box, because in this area the opponent does not tackle and bodycheck so often while getting the ball.
it could be a introduction for giovinco, so that he slowly learns how to integrate in the team without the pressure he was under if he tried to control the ball on the edge of the box and defenders running at him that are at least one feet larger then him.
giovinco would have the comfort of not being tackled at once when he gets the ball and can use his speed to go past the opponents while facing the goal... everybody knows that it is easer to go past a man if you already have the ball on your feet and are facing towards the goal instead of having to control the ball under pressure and then also having to make a u turn.
what also could be a point that you all are so in love with xabis long balls ... but if you look at giovincos height, it's obvious that high balls are not the passes you would like giovinco to receive ... he got a superb technique, but that does not help if a defender can head away the ball easily because it's pretty easy to intercept those balls when you are taller then your opponent... in this case you even would not have to man mark him so close because the height difference lets you get ball anyway
so to summarize my points:
-ranieri might want to play giovinco further away from the opponents goal to let him intruduce his game with fewer pressure of defenders
-long balls are surely not the balls that are perfect for a small player like giovinco (he can be as fast as he wants, if he has to control the ball because it's played high, he will take more time that when controlling a low accurate pass)
-with the vast area of creativity that giovinco can bring, it would be obvious that you need to install him in a more central role to give many balls to him instead of possibly leaving him isolated, because nobody passes to the left wing
you surely remember that there were situations where we had nedved on the left wing, but the game flow lead to nocerino having to run on the right flank and trying to cross .... situations you do not want anymore (i know that noce is gone)
